


Islanders

by MerMagicAnaLily



Category: Andi Mack (TV)
Genre: Aro!Jonah, F/F, F/M, Gay!T.J., Island - Freeform, Kinda Crazy but hopefully a ton of fun., Lesbian!Amber, M/M, Pan!Andi, Stranded, Surviving, Survivor AU, gay!cyrus, trans!marty
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-01
Updated: 2019-10-11
Packaged: 2020-11-09 06:10:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 12,139
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20848790
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MerMagicAnaLily/pseuds/MerMagicAnaLily
Summary: T.J. sighed as he walked past the memorial again. He and his siblings moved to Shadyside from New York and started school after the disaster that happened last year. That year, the school had taken some of their top students on a cruise, and the boat sank. Most kids were able to get on lifeboats and almost everyone was saved overall with coast guards coming in quickly, a few of the other passengers died from the ship, but four students got on a lifeboat and it disappeared. Though never confirmed, they were declared dead seven months later, and their families still wandered around aimlessly.“I still think it’s a bad idea,” Marty said, talking to T.J. and Amber. “We walk every day past this memorial to the four kids, and now mom wants to take us on a cruise?”“They went on some cheap-o Carnival cruise with a subpar boat,” Amber said. “The news proved that over and over. Plus, boats sink all the time, and planes crash, but vacations are still fun.”“And you know mom doesn’t get this sort of thing all the time,” T.J. said. “We’re lucky to get this at all.”





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Is this an absolutely crazy AU? Yes, but I think it could be kinda funny. Hope you enjoy!*

_ “This is absolutely hopeless!” Cyrus groaned, leaning over the side of the rowboat. “It’s been three days, we have no phones, no means of communication, and all we have left are five bananas and two bags of chips.” _

_ “We’ll get through this,” Andi said, keeping an eye on the two boys on the boat while looking to Buffy for hope. Jonah seemed to be counting the clouds in the sky to keep himself from having a panic attack. One of those would be the least helpful things on the planet right now. “We just...need to find land.” _

_ “How do we find land?” Cyrus asked.  _

_ “There’s a bird in the sky now,” Jonah said softly, but everyone ignored him.  _

_ “Well, just gotta keep our eyes peeled.  _

_ “Huh...it’s been a while since there’s been a bird until now…” _

_ “What if we can’t find any land guys?!” Cyrus started freaking out, and both Buffy and Andi took ahold of him. “We’re going to have to Life of Pi this, and we’re going to drink turtle blood and eat fish until we die!” _

_ “Now that I think about it...I haven’t seen any birds since we left port, and none throughout the entire cruise…” _

_ “Jonah, can you please-wait,” Buffy stopped. “Birds don’t fly too far from land…” she looked up at the sky to where Jonah was looking. “Jonah Beck you accidental genius!” _

_ “I am?” _

_ “Yeah!” She looked at her friends. “We’re all saved! Pick up an oar! We’ve got to follow those birds!” She handed her friends the oars and they paddled until their arms hurt, but thankfully, they reached a glorious sight, an island. It didn’t look too big, but it looked like there was food and life.  _

_ “So…”Andi asked as they all pushed the boat up onto the beach. “Now what?” _

_ “We look over our supplies,” Buffy said. “We build shelter. Jonah, Andi, you two think you can handle that?” The two looked at each other and nodded. “Cyrus, you’re the smartest one and are the one who most likely knows which plants and stuff are edible, so that’s your job.” _

_ “Finally, being careful and overly cautious comes in handy,” he chuckled.  _

_ “And...I’ll try and write an SOS message...Hopefully someone comes soon…” _

_ “Shouldn’t be too long,” Jonah said, looking over the four duffel bags they were able to get on their lifeboat before being stranded. “Right?” _

* * *

_ **One Year Later** _

T.J. sighed as he walked past the memorial again. He and his siblings moved to Shadyside from New York and started school after the disaster that happened last year. That year, the school had taken some of their top students on a cruise, and the boat sank. Most kids were able to get on lifeboats and almost everyone was saved overall with coast guards coming in quickly, a few of the other passengers died from the ship, but four students got on a lifeboat and it disappeared. Though never confirmed, they were declared dead seven months later, and their families still wandered around aimlessly. 

“I still think it’s a bad idea,” Marty said, talking to T.J. and Amber. “We walk every day past this memorial to the four kids, and now mom wants to take us on a cruise?”

“They went on some cheap-o Carnival cruise with a subpar boat,” Amber said. “The news proved that over and over. Plus, boats sink all the time, and planes crash, but vacations are still fun.”

“And you know mom doesn’t get this sort of thing all the time,” T.J. said. “We’re lucky to get this at all.” 

“I guess,” Marty said, looking down. “Scuse me for being paranoid…”

“Just don’t bring it up around her,” Amber said. “She worked so hard for us to be able to do this…”

“I also just can’t believe she’s taking me…”

“Believe it, you’re part of the family,” she said. They finally arrived home and looked over their stuff they had to pack. “And we’re glad to have you.”

“Better here,” he said with a smile. 

“Alright Full House,” T.J. rolled his eyes but had a hint of a smile on his lips. “Let’s get our bags ready. We leave tomorrow really early.”

* * *

“Alright team,” Emily Kippen said, setting the bags down. “One week on a Disney Cruise, what should we do first?”

“Where do we even start?!” Marty said pouring over the map. “Oooh, the buffet.”

“Men are black holes,” Amber said, taking the pamphlet from his hands. “There’s a huge waterslide, and a teen dance club at night, we should totally go.”

“There a basketball court?” T.J. asked. “I wonder if there are good pickup games…”

“You kids do what you want, and have fun!” Emily said. “Phones on you at all times, and I’m going to go to the Spa, and you’ll have to use a crowbar to get me out of those massage tables,” she laughed. 

The teens took the map again as she left and looked over it. “I feel like we gotta take a picture with Mickey Mouse at the very least to start,” Amber said. “Otherwise, what’s the point of a Disney cruise?” 

“And you call us immature,” T.J. teased. 

“You guys are immature,” Amber said, ignoring Marty’s snickering. “Character pictures are not immature because they are not childish. They’re part of the landscape.”

“Yeah yeah, first food,” Marty said, taking the map while he ran out, with T.J. hot on his heels. 

“I live with absolute idiots.”

* * *

“Everyone here is acting strangely,” Amber said a few days later, sitting down next to her brothers by the pool.

“Nah, that’s just how tourists are,” T.J. said. 

“Not them,” she said. “The cast members. I saw them counting the life vests and lifeboats again, and the helicopter picked up more people.”

“Maybe they got sick?” Marty said. 

“I’ve just...I’ve got a bad feeling…” she said, watching Mickey come and do rounds with Goofy. They both looked stiffer than usual. 

“You’re just being paranoid,” T.J. said. “You’re thinking of the kids from a year ago.”

“We do see their faces plastered everywhere, and the lockers they had are completely memorialized, covered in pretty paint and locked with whatever they had before they died,” Amber said.

“If they died,” Marty said. “The bodies were never found.”

“You’re banned from watching any more X-files,” T.J. deadpanned. 

Several cast members were running around, making calls, and another went around, giving everyone a free drink.

* * *

“Attention everyone,” the announcements came over the speakers. “The captain wishes to inform you that there’s been a fire in the engine room, and the vessel is steadily sinking. Please make your way to the lifeboats!”

Emily was throwing each of her kids a bag. Children were being put on the boats first. “Get on the boat and go,” she said. 

“Mom, what about you?” T.J. asked. 

“Don’t worry about me!” She said. “Go first, and I’ll do what I can!”

“Mom,” Marty’s voice broke. “Please...don’t do this…” 

Emily hugged the three of them and kissed their foreheads. “Go...stay safe. You guys are much more important.”

She pushed them forward and the three got placed in a lifeboat together and lowered into the water as they watched the big cruise ship tip over, and they got pushed further out to sea with the waves, and they saw only a few more boats get out.

* * *

“You shouldn’t have used the flare! It was our only one”

“There was a helicopter!”

“There was also overcast skies! They wouldn’t be able to see it! We didn’t even see the helicopter! We just heard it!”

“Well it was our best bet!”

“You two need to shut the hell up,” T.J. snapped, looking at the two bickering. “We need to find land.”

“Well if you know how to do that…” Marty snapped. 

“Marty!”

“Sorry...he muttered. “I missed a few shots…” he muttered. “I’m going through withdrawal.”

“Well, you need to get yourself together,” T.J. said. “And Amber, I don’t care what you think Marty should or should not have done with the flare, arguing won’t help, and our phones are useless.”

“We’re aware of how exactly we’re gonna die T.J.”

“We’re not gonna die,” he said. “We may not have a volleyball, but we’ll find some land, some food...until then, I suggest we turn one of the oars into a spear or something so that we can try and stab some fish or something.”

“And what? Make a fire on a wooden boat to cook it?” Marty snapped again and T.J. glared until he shrunk back. 

“Well, hope you like sushi, guys…”

* * *

“If I eat another fish I’m gonna puke down your pants,” Amber groaned. 

“Feel free,” Marty said. “I’m gonna do the same.”

“Split a granola bar then,” T.J. sighed, standing up and trying to look around. 

“We’re not gonna find land.”

“Not with that attitude,” T.J. grumbled. “I’m trying my best guys.”

“Yeah yeah yeah, mr. Boy Scout is going to save us,” Amber mumbled.

“Not my fault I was the only Boy Scout, or Scout all together,” he said. “Don’t be bitter.”

“I’m getting annoyed!” Amber said. “You’re here just telling us to “keep our chins up! Golly gee we’ll be saved! It’s been a week, T.J., let it the fuck go.”

“Someone’s not over Disney.”

“Marty I’m gonna throw you overboard!”

“You’re doing me a favor then!” 

“I’d rather drown than spend another second on this boat with you!”

“Well since you already think we’re gonna die!”

“What the fuck else am I supposed to think?!” Amber argued back. T.J. frowned and peered closer to the water. “We’re in the middle of the fucking ocean with no flares, four granola bars, and a bag full of your shitty energy drinks! I haven’t slept this entire goddamn time!”

“Shut up!” T.J. said. “The water is getting lighter.”

“So?”

“So…” T.J. said. “Lighter water means it’s shallower, and shallower water means land.”

“Holy shit, you’re fucking with us,” Marty said getting up. “Really?”

“Still cursing out the fact I’m a Boy Scout now?”

“Alright,” Amber said. “All hail the three fingered salute! Now lets get there! Teej, I can’t believe I’m saying this...but lead the way.”

* * *

“COCONUTS!” Marty tripped over himself on the beach, going to the trees. “I NEVER THOUGHT I’D BE HAPPY TO SEE A COCONUT AFTER LISTENING TO MOANA ON REPEAT!”

“Moana’s god tier,” Amber grumbled, stumbling on the beach helping T.J. with their bags. “And now we know that we can actually have fresh water! And not the thirty thousand Monster drinks Marty had.”

“Sorry! But those Monsters saved our lives!”

T.J. was quiet, seeing how some of the trees by the shoreline were cut, and noticing some drags of vegetation. “Guys…”

“Well now we can have coconut water!” She said, grabbing one from the ground and smashing it against a rock. “I need fresh drinks!” 

“Bananas!!!” Marty hopped around. “There are bananas! And berries!” 

“Guys…”

“And there’s a clearing on the beach we can send a message out to!” Amber said. “Teej, you should start that!” 

He looked around. “Nothing feels off to you guys?”

Marty and Amber paused. “Well...we’re on a deserted island, after a week stranded in the ocean, after sinking on a ship,” Amber said. “I’m not entirely sure we can be all too picky here…” she gave the coconut a final smash and saw it break open and she jumped up in glee. “Guys! Water!” 

T.J. didn’t even care at that point and took half of the coconut, sighing as he drank from it. “God, this tastes amazing...fresh…”

Amber drank down the water pooled on the other half. Marty took another coconut and started smashing himself, needing some water too, eventually able to make a gash he could let the water fall into his mouth. “There’s got to be a more effective way to do this,” he said. 

“There is, we were just a little desperate.” He got his bag from the boat and took out a pocket knife, stabbing the coconut before goring a bigger hole from it, then he gave it to Amber before doing it to another. “Also, I think we need to get the ridiculous amount of caffeine we consumed flushed out of our body.”

“Agreed,” she said. 

“So,” Marty looked around. “What now?”

“We explore,” T.J. said, giving them their bags. “Find a source of fresh water that isn’t in a coconut, and gather enough rocks to make an SOS on the beach.

* * *

“I want to go back in time and tell small child me that he was an idiot for saying that fruits are gross,” Marty said, eating berries by the handfuls. “This is so, so, so good. I actually like eating healthy.” 

“No temptations of junk food at least,” Amber joked, already in a better mood. She was hungry, tired, and stir crazy in the boat, but now that she could move around on a beach. “Though it looks like it’s a small island, like it wouldn’t take us more than a week to see each inch of this place.”

“Hey, tons of people shell out a ridiculous amount of cash for a private island, we get ours for free,” Marty joked. 

T.J. finished setting up the S.O.S in rocks, though he thought it was weird that they were all piled up really close together, only needing to go out and search for a few more rocks to fill in the gaps. He looked at his siblings, finally being civil with each other and biting his lip nervously at Marty. He wasn’t being too safe right now, and he wanted to intervene, but he didn’t want Marty to feel like he was crossing a line.

“I think we should go a bit more inland to make a fire and get some well deserved sleep,” he said. “The trees would be able to give us a bit more covering, and it won’t be as hard to drag materials for a lean to.” 

“I know we got annoyed on the boat,” Amber said. “But honestly, it’s great that you were a Boy Scout when you were younger.”

“Yeah, you’re literally the only reason we’re alive right now,” Marty said. 

“So,” Amber put a hand on her hip. “Lead the way.”

* * *

“Normally in movies, when characters are exploring an island for the first time, there’s a lot more trees and stuff in the way that they have to cut down,” Marty said.

“You can’t believe things you see in movies,” Amber said. T.J. didn’t say anything, but he was finding it strange as well. 

“Well easier to move means easier to find a place to make a shelt-AH!” he tripped over something and the next thing he knew, he was upside-down and raised high, and facing a brown-eyed boy in a tree, and a girl next to him, aiming an arrow between his eyes. “Holy shit…”

“Wait...you’re a person…” the girl put her arrow down and exchanged a glance with the boy. T.J. couldn’t stop staring at the boy. His eyes were big, soulful, like pools of chocolate he could get lost in, and he looked slightly scruffy, but he figured that was from living on a deserted island, and he somehow looked like he was trying to be as presentable as possible...wait, that was no time to swoon over a cute boy! 

“You’re people too…” he said slowly. “People that speak Eng-wait!” He started turning around by his ankle and tried to look back at the two kids. They eventually each grabbed one of his arms and held him still. “I know you guys.”

“I don’t think so,” the girl said. “We’ve never met.”

“No! No! I go to Grant High!” He said. “Your faces are all over the place! Buffy, right? Cyrus?” Their eyes widened. 

“Someone from Grant High got stranded on the same island we did?” Cyrus widened his eyes. He looked really cute like that...FOCUS T.J.! 

“Three someones...my brother and sister are probably freaking out down there. I’m T.J. Kippen...please let me down?”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, if you couldn’t tell, this is turning out to be kind of a Gilligan’s Island/Swiss Family Robinson meets Survivor(-reality show aspect). It’s a little silly and kooky, but with “real” risk. 
> 
> Hope you guys enjoy*

“Note to self,” Buffy said, lowering T.J. from where he was hanging back down to the ground. “Grant High kids on cruises are doomed.”

Cyrus couldn’t stop staring at T.J. Upside-down, he looked tall, his blonde hair looked floppy but in all the right places, and when his shirt rode up, Cyrus had to stop himself from drooling over those abs. Clearly a jock. On the ground he helped T.J. into a standing position and confirmed that this boy was much taller than he was. He also saw that his eyes were a gorgeous sea-green color. Cyrus was clearly doomed. 

“T.J.!”

“Jag!”

Two more voices shout out from the trees and two figures emerged, a blonde girl that looked around Cyrus’s height, and another boy around Buffy’s height, just a little taller than her. “Guys!” T.J. rushed forward and hugged him. “We’re not alone!”

“What’s going on?” The girl looked behind him and saw Buffy and Cyrus, then gasped. “The kids from the memorial!”

“We’re that prolific, huh?” Cyrus asked. 

The other boy was frozen staring at them. “Yeah...they never opened your lockers, the other kids who survived the trip speak regularly at assemblies about you guys…”

“Wait..survived?!” Buffy asked. “Are we the only ones that didn’t make it back?”

“Well...the only Grant students,” the girl said. “And now there’s us, but the ship really went down with us...with mom…”

All of them got really quiet there and Buffy and Cyrus exchanged a glance. They considered saying something along the lines of ‘maybe she got out okay!” but didn’t want to sound patronizing or give them false hope. They decided to go a different direction. 

“I’m Cyrus Goodman,” he said, introducing himself to the two new faces. “This is Buffy Driscoll..though according to T.J...you probably already knew that, huh?”

“Yeah,” T.J. said. “From the memorials.This is my sister, Amber Kippen, and my brother, Martin Sousa-Kippen.”

“You can call me Marty,” he said, smiling at Buffy. Wait..did Cyrus just see Buffy Blush?”

“Sousa-Kippen?” She asked. 

“Recently adopted,” he said. “And I wanted to keep my Brazilian name.” Buffy nodded in understanding. 

“Are the other guys here? Andy and Jonah...right? We hear all of your names literally all the time,” Amber said. 

“Yeah, they’re in the treehouse.”

“You guys built a treehouse?” T.J. asked. 

“It was either that or constantly rebuild the ground shelters after it’s been attacked by predators and kick all small critters out of our beds nightly,” Cyrus said. “What’s what our lives were like the first month or so until Jonah thought about making it a treehouse because birds are less of a hassle, and Andi came up with the designs.”

“That does sound like it used to be a hassle before,” Amber said, with a disgusted face. 

“Come on,” Buffy scanned the three of them before shrugging. “Might as well survive together.

* * *

“Jonah, no!” That was the first thing all the Kippens heard approaching the treehouse, though word that seemed like a downplay of what they saw in front of them. There seemed to be one big main “house that took up two trees and a rope ladder that was tucked up on a branch, and from the main house, several four rope bridges led out to four smaller houses, each a little different. “Jonah, I’m not weaponizing your frisbee.”

Buffy grabbed a stick that hung on a hook on a nearby tree and used it to dislodge the rope ladder. Cyrus climbed up first, followed by the three siblings, and lastly by Buffy, who slung her bow over her shoulder. 

“Come on,” They walked in a brown haired white boy and a small, black haired Chinese girl in the middle of an argument, with the boy looking like he was begging and the girl weaving together a net out of coconut fibers. “You made Buffy the weapon she wanted!”

“I made her a bow and arrow, and she was a Girl Scout and basketball player with good hand-eye coordination. She knows how to use one…” she trailed off when she saw the Kippens standing awkwardly. Jonah turned his head and looked as well. “Um...have we entered the hallucination stage of being stranded on an island?”

“Nope,” Buffy shook her head. “Real people.”

“Real people…” Jonah said dazed. 

“Real people,” Cyrus confirmed. 

Andi started screaming happily and rushed forward. She ended up hugging, almost tackling, Marty and Amber, wrapping her arms around their necks. “Real people!!! Who are you?! Where are you guys from?! Do you have help here?! Can we get out?!”

They laughed a little and Cyrus brought over some of the food they had preserved. “I think we need to start from the top,” he said. “And make sure that they aren’t close to death…” 

* * *

“So...to recap,” Cyrus said, eating a mango. “We officially have two scouts, four jocks, and two crafty people all together?”

“Well,” Amber said. “I’m pretty good with clothes and stuff like sewing, knitting, that sort of stuff…”

“Which is perfect,” Andi said. “I’m crafty but I’m nowhere when it comes to clothes. The closest I can get is jewelry and maybe a Knick knack like a scarf or something. And we’re doing our best with washing and preserving the four backpacks worth of clothes we have, but we’d be approaching grass skirt eras if we can’t get some things together.”

“Good thing my bag has an emergency sewing kit,” Amber said with a little smile. She blushed and tucked her hair behind her ear. T.J. frowned a little as he stared at her. Now was not the time to flirt with pretty girls! Amber saw his glare and averted her gaze from him. 

“Well,” Buffy interrupted. “With a Boy Scout here, we might be able to split up more often. I won’t have nearly as many things to teach you than I had to teach Jonah.”

“What do you mean teach me?” T.J. asked. “I mean, I think I’m a pretty good survivalist, and I might give you a few tips and tricks.” 

“You’ve got to be kidding me!”

Cyrus and Andi exchanged a worried look. 

“Well, Boy Scouts learned real survival skills,” T.J. said, frowning. “We didn’t just sit around discussing cookie sales.”

“Our cookies were only for a few months out of a year!” She said. “And we outsold your stale popcorn with our eyes closed and both hands behind our backs! Everyone loves Girl Scout cookies! And we spent the rest of the time camping and learning important skills too! We can even make our food taste good.”

“Boy Scouts learned how to hunt and gather our own food, regardless of taste,” he said. 

“We did that too!”

“Guys!” Marty got between them. “Let’s agree to say that the fact that both of you were scouts in some way, shape, or form means our chances of dying go down a hell of a lot. Please stop arguing and just do what you got to do so we don’t become fertilizer?”

The two grumbled and looked away from each other. Cyrus sighed. “Well, hating each other or not,” he said. “I think we should still work together. There’s seven of us versus a whole untamed island, and honestly, even with us being here a whole year, we’re not exactly...thriving…”

“The treehouses would have made me think differently,” Amber said. “How did you guys come up with this?”

“Well,” Andi said. “Jonah was the one who came up with the idea, and he had a treehouse back home, so he knew how to make one. The two of us worked together to get it built while Buffy and Cyrus did the hunting and gathering of the day to day, and we started with this house.”

“And you expanded?”

“Well, after this first little house, the rest were easy since they were smaller,” Jonah said. “It started with me and Cyrus getting annoyed at waiting on the ground while Buffy and Andi changed...and them doing the same for us, so we made another one to stay off the ground, which once the rope bridge was built, is just a bit of balancing, a bit of holding onto the ropes, and just going for it,” he said. 

“So it was another room to change in?” T.J. asked. 

“More of a privacy room in general,” Cyrus said. “Then we got annoyed by each other’s snoring and nightly habits and we did the math, and it wouldn’t exactly be that hard to build three more houses, so this is the living room, so to speak, and the other houses are our bedrooms. But I can go and sleep over with one of the others so you guys have one of them to yourselves!”

“Oh no,” Marty said, his Brazilian etiquette shining through. “We can’t put you out. We can stay in the living room,” he said. 

“No, no, this is…not...great since we started using it as the crafting and weaponry room,” Buffy said. “Shavings and pointy objects…”

“Good point,” T.J. said, then looked at Cyrus. “We could share rooms with you guys…”

“It’s fine,” Cyrus said blushing. “I can just go and bunk with Buffy or Jonah until we make you guys a place to stay.” 

T.J. had to swallow at the sight of Cyrus blushing. He ignored Amber rolling her eyes and cleared his throat. “If you’re sure...we can start building more houses as soon as possible, once we get some more energy. We puked up more sushi than we ate…”

“Raw fish,” Buffy said. “You guys didn’t ration your food? You should have had three days worth with four people, like we did.”

“We were stranded for over a week,” he said. “We lasted four days with the food, then we only had a bag full of Monster energy drinks…”

“Gross,” Buffy wrinkled her nose.

“Blasphemy,” Marty quipped back. 

“Out of options,” T.J. said. “It was either that or salt water...so we also had that and maybe three coconuts each of water…” 

“Did you guys sleep at all?” Cyrus asked, furrowing his brows with worry. 

“Well...stranded for a week in the middle of the ocean...maybe being awake was the better option,” Marty said. 

Buffy sighed. “Jonah, get these guys some more coconuts and water from the spring,” she said, and he nodded, grabbed a couple of buckets. “I’ll find you guys some proper food, more than we usually eat, but so you guys recuperate your energy. As soon as you guys rest up and have enough strength, we’ll divide up some chores.”

Cyrus got up. “I’ll show you guys where you can rest your head,” he said. “There’s only one makeshift bed we made, but I can give you some of our backpacks and a blanket to borrow so someone can sleep on the floor. The little bed is big enough for two people...with a tight squeeze…”

“Sounds great,” T.J. smiled a little. “Thanks, really.”

“I...I can also show you folks the little shower we rigged up. Though to save drinking water, it’s salt water. It’s weird at first but it’s not bad at all once you get used to it.”

“It’s better than death and far away from a lifeboat,” Marty said. “It’s perfect.”

“Actually it’s made from our lifeboat so…”

“It’s not a life boat on the water,” he quickly corrected. “It’s perfect. All of this is perfect.” 

T.J. and Cyrus laughed a little, both looking down. “Well...thank you, so so much,” T.J. said, trying not to be awkward. “But I think the three of us are about to crash any second now.”

“Of course!” He said laughing a little. “I’ll uh...shout if you guys need help with anything…” he walked across the bridge again and T.J. watched him go. 

“Jag,” Amber called out from behind him. “You like him, don’t you?”

“Amber…”

“You do,” she said.

“Look, first, there’s no guarantee he’s gay…” Marty and Amber exchanged a look and and then looked back at T.J. “And two, I litererally just met the guy. He seems nice, unlike Buffy.”

“Meanwhile I think Buffy’s great,” Marty said with a smile. 

“Really, call me out and not him? Plus, you stared at Andi for ten minutes straight,” T.J. said. 

“Okay fine, maybe we’re all a little interested in everyone…” Amber said. “But Kippen pact, we can’t make a move yet, okay? We just got here and if things end badly, we have to keep living with them as long as we’re here, until we’re saved.”

They both sighed and nodded. “You’re right,” Marty said. “Anything more than friends right now could be disasterous.”


	3. Chapter 3

T.J. woke up to the smell of something cooking. He slowly sat up, groaning at the way his body was sore. He elected to sleep on the floor while Amber and Marty slept peacefully on Cyrus’s makeshift mattress, using his hoodie and T-shirt as a pillow. Thankfully, it was warm enough that he didn’t feel like he was missing out on not having a blanket. 

He got up and put on another T-shirt, one that smelt the least like raw fish and Monster energy drinks and quietly got out of the room and across the bridge, making sure not to wake up his much more exhausted siblings. He walked into the main house to see Andi preparing fish before cooking it. “Hey...T.J., right?” 

He nodded. “Andi?” She nodded. “You’re already making food?” 

“We start preparing a lot of food early,” she said. “And we preserve some for other meals and stuff. Now we’re also making a ton of food for you guys.”

“That’s really nice of you guys.”

She shrugged. “We’re kinda all stuck here together, right? No clue where we are, or if anyone will ever find us…”

“You guys don’t have a message in the sand…”

“We had one, but the rocks kept washing away every day...and after seven months of putting it back in place four times a day, we just got tired, and Buffy started to loose hope.”

“Did you?”

Andi frowned. “What?”

“Did you start to lose hope?”

She pursed her lips and thought. “I don’t want to…” she said. “Maybe now that you guys are missing...maybe they’ll start flying planes and choppers around again, we could start putting the rocks back again, at least try. But...it’s not so bad here,” she shrugged. 

“You guys are pretty talented,” he said, sitting down and deciding to help Andi with descaling the fish, remembering the techniques he learned years ago. It came back like muscle memory, something he hadn’t done in years. 

“We had a pretty weird group back in Shadyside,” she said. “Weird skills that we somehow managed to use for our survival. There are things that you wouldn’t even think would be helpful that turned out useful.”

“Like what?”

“Well, back home, my crafts were more like, duct tape wallets, bracelets, lamps made out of broken CDs…”

“Art?”

“Sure, art,” she said, clearly not believing it to be art. “Here, thank god Cyrus loved Disney so much that he remembered the line in Moana that they made nets from the fibers of the coconut, so it took some trial and error, and it’s time consuming, but I was able to make nets, ropes, all that good stuff.”

He nodded, cleaning more fish as Andi started cooking. “I guess more hands on deck can only be helpful, huh?” 

“We just gotta do our best, make it as much as a home that we can,” she said. “Try not to kill each other,” she joked. 

“You guys have that problem?”

“Only for the first few months. Jonah used to say things were ‘Docious Magocious’ and Buffy used to threaten to shove the nearest papaya down his throat. Now she actually misses it a little. And sometimes Jonah tries to argue that a frisbee is a wonderful hunting implement.”

“Frisbee?”

“He was the Ultimate captain back at Grant. The ‘Space Otters,’” she said. “And Buffy was captain of the girl’s basketball team.”

“Really? I was captain at my old school,” T.J. said. “And I played at Grant.”

“Buffy had a basketball in the duffel bag she put on the boat,” she said. “Maybe you two could play.”

“It wouldn’t be fair.”

“Only because I’d be better,” Buffy said coming in, putting some freshly killed birds down and glaring at him. 

“No, because boys’ basketball and girls’ basketball are on totally different levels,” he said. “I’ve seen them play.”

“You probably don’t know that I started the team, literally, from nothing,” she said, getting down to his level as she started to pluck the birds. Andi grabbed a little basket and started putting the feathers in there. “There was no girls team before me.”

“That’s why you’re losing? Thank god Kira is whipping them into shape then.”

“KIRA?!” 

“Oh no…” Andi said quietly. 

“Kira doesn’t know teamwork if it knocked her teeth out! The team was getting better until I left!”

“Kira is the only one who knows how to play.”

“Don’t tell me you were friends with that witch.” 

“We had a bit of a banter, made basketball jokes…” he said. 

“Oh god, please tell me Kira wasn’t your *girlfriend,*” she spat that last word out. 

“Oh, no! No! No! Trust me, I did not date Kira!” He said, then paused. “At least, I never considered us to be dating…”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” She asked. 

“It means I literally had to have Marty and Amber hold my hand and explain to me that a girl was flirting with me in the past,” he said. “I’m terrible at that stuff...is her jumping on my back for a piggy-back ride flirting?”

“Gross, just...gross,” Buffy got up and went into her “room.” Andi sighed and finished plucking the birds. 

“You really can’t tell if a girl is flirting with you?”

“Never could...I’m guessing she doesn’t believe me?”

Andi shrugged. “A guy like you, you look like the stereotype of a player,” she said. 

“Trust me, I’m not,” he said. “Never really held an interest in girls,” he said. Andi stopped and gave him a once-over. 

“Not the dating type?”

“Haven’t really gone after it,” he said. “Buffy just made an idea of who I am in her head, didn’t she?”

“The instant you smack-talked the Girl Scouts.”

He let out a chuckle. “Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts will forever have a rivalry. We like thinking we’re more rugged because we’re all jealous of those cookies.” 

Andi laughed at that. “And the Basketball thing?”

“I’ve never seen a girls team that was...good I guess. My old school sometimes had boys versus girls team games for Homecoming, you know, for fun and bragging rights. None of the girls ever matched up.”

“Just because teams from your past and Grant’s team aren’t good, doesn’t mean that no girls are good at basketball,” she said. “Before she started the girls’ team, Buffy actually played on the boys’ team.”

“Really?” 

“Yeah, she beat out several guys too,” she said. “One of the best players. But then she wanted more girls to go out and play, so she organized the team, got a teacher to be the faculty coach, and took on coaching and team-captain for herself and made a team from literally nothing. She had to teach them everything, even the rules of the game.”

“That’s...impressive…” he said. “But honestly, it seems like Buffy hated me before I even opened my mouth. She kept staring at me when she and Cyrus cut me down from the traps laid out.”

“Oh, that’s me and Cyrus’s doing. Pretty successful, I’d say.”

“You and Cyrus made those?” 

“Yeah, well...I made the traps, Cyrus set them,” she said. “For the first two weeks were were here, we depended pretty much on only fruit and whatever Buffy or Jonah could catch with a sharp stick. Cyrus started seeing patterns in how the animals moved and where they were, so when I figured out how to make rope, he set all the traps and at the end of the day, not one of his traps are empty. He’s also the one that keeps us safe here.”

“Really?”

“Yeah,” she said. “By his own admission, he’s got ‘stuff,’ and he’s afraid of just about everything. So, best way to stay safe is to have someone look through and say everything he’s afraid of. When he’s satisfied, we know we’re good.”

“Using fear as a superpower,” T.J. said. “Wish I knew how to do that.”

“Cyrus hates being afraid,” she said. “But he knows it’s useful for us now.” 

* * *

T.J. walked around the island later, trying to avoid Buffy. He wasn’t sure she’d want to talk to him, and he didn’t even know what he would be able to say. He just walked to the beach, watching the waves crash and then seeing Jonah drag a small makeshift raft. 

“Hey...what’s going on?” T.J. asked. 

“Fishing,” he said. “Want to join? Might be easier if I have someone helping me reel the net in. 

“Think I could join in too?” A voice said behind them, and they turned around to see Marty. “I need to get away from Amber. She sleep-kicks.”

“You got it,” he said, getting the raft in the water. The other two boys came onto the boat and they started rowing off to sea. 

“So…you usually do this alone?” T.J. asked. 

“Most of the time, sometimes Buffy comes with, once or twice Cyrus has come but he was the rower and net holder and I did all the work. Didn’t mind it though.”

“I’m guessing you guys eat fish a lot?”

“And birds,” Jonah said. “Whenever we get sick of fish...and we only started eating that because we were seriously protein deficient for a while. Vegetarianism or being vegan isn’t exactly...possible here. At least...not in a healthy way that four high schoolers could figure out.”

“That makes sense,” T.J. said, following Jonah’s lead. The two cast the net while Marty rowed them out and made sure they didn’t lose the oars. “I’m guessing you’re all close, living here?”

“This twenty questions?” Jonah joked. “But yeah, I guess. The other three were already super close, and I kinda just joined in when Andi joined my ultimate team and then the two of us went out together...and we didn’t exactly make a good couple, but we were good friends. Plus, I got close with Cyrus and Buffy liked making fun of me, but not in a mean way. They’re just cool people to get drawn towards.”

“That’s good to hear,” Marty said. “Clearly not the judgmental, bigoted type…” T.J. pursed his lips and looked back. 

“The absolute opposite,” Jonah said. “They’re accepting and loving to a fault!”

“Maybe it won’t be so bad surviving here together then,” Marty said. “Right Teej?” He turned around but he forgot that he was still holding onto the oar and when he did, he knocked his brother straight into the ocean. 


	4. Chapter 4

“T.J. I’m sorry,” Marty said, barely containing his laughter. Cyrus frowned as he set a trap and whipped his head around to see Jonah and Marty crying from holding back their laughs following a soaking wet T.J., looking slightly miffed. He was blinking really quickly as he stomped back to the treehouse, accidentally running into a tree. 

Cyrus raised his eyebrow as T.J. brushed himself off, avoiding looking at Cyrus, and climbed up the ladder. Marty winced a little.

“Fun fishing trip?” Cyrus asked. 

“I knocked T.J. into the ocean,” Marty said. “And since I got salt water into his contact lenses...I ruined his last contact lenses earlier than expected.”

“And he got mad at me for laughing when he found a fish in his right pant leg,” Jonah said, and Cyrus had to smile a little. 

“So...he’s gonna have glasses?” 

“One hundred percent,” Marty said. “He hates his glasses.”

“Well, we were probably bound to find out sooner or later,” he said. “If you guys have our luck, which I pray you don’t, also because it means we all get out together, it’s hard to keep secrets for too long.”

Marty’s face froze over a little and he nodded. “I’m gonna...go make sure T.J. doesn’t hate me too much, and make him look on the bright side.”

“What’s the bright side?” Jonah asked.

“He doesn’t have to worry about showering.”

* * *

T.J. stared at himself miserably in though his sister’s makeup compact with whatever was left of her finishing powder. “Dude,” Marty said. “You look good in glasses, what are you complaining about?”

“I look like a dork,” T.J. said. “I mean, why are they so round?!”

“You picked them out. And they compliment you. If you were even somewhat straight, all the girls would be fawning over you.”

“And yet Buffy hates my guts and Andi doesn’t exactly look my way, so theory disproved.”

“Yeah...Buffy hates you because you were a sexist douche when you first talked to her…”

“Which Amber is still berating me about,” he rolled his eyes. 

“And Andi...something tells me that you and her have something in common.”

“You think?” He frowned, looking up. 

“She complimented Amber’s hair seven times in a sentence. Yeah, I think,” he laughed, sitting next to his brother, smiling but still looking somewhat ‘off’ to T.J.

“What’s going on?”

Marty sighed. “It’s something Cyrus said...about living here for a long time, and how secrets don’t tend to stay secrets...and I believe I have white a big one on me…”

“I don’t think they’re the kind to care,” he said. “You’re my brother, and if I have to be James Polk Middle School me to make sure nobody fucks with you, then I’ll do it.”

“You shouldn’t have to go back to being a bully for me,” he said quietly, fiddling with his thumbs. 

“You’re right,” he said. “But I will. I will literally walk out of here and row both of us with my bare hands on that horrible little fishing raft until I find the tiny island next door to ours so that you can breathe easy...matter of speaking...you slept with it on...didn’t you?”

Marty looked down. “I don’t like having it off...I don’t like having a chest.”

“Well, the physical chest you’ll always have, since humans kind of need one,” he joked, pounding his own chest like Tarzan and making Marty laugh. “But I get it. It’s valid. But your actual physical health is more important. Amber can figure out some like, super sports bra or whatever with whatever we can make out of what we bring here, and you can wear my hoodies instead so that it’s baggier, but you need to let yourself breathe.”

“I can breathe...technically…”

T.J. sighed. “I’ll stand outside the door. Take it off and stretch.” Before Marty could protest, T.J. went outside and sat down in front of the door, taking off his glasses and looking at the blurry world in front of him. 

“Hey,” T.J. looked up to see Jonah coming over. “Sorry about laughing.”

“No, it’s fine...it’s actually kinda funny now that I think about it,” he said. “I was just wet and my eyes were irritated from the salt water...and the fact that I now have no more contacts.”

“So...you’re a glasses wearer. First one here,” he said. “You got them in your room?” Jonah started to get up but T.J. grabbed his arm quickly. 

“No! No they’re right here,” he said, and reluctantly put them on. “Ta da.”

“Hey, those are pretty good,” he said. “Matches your face.”

“Thanks?”

“...yeah Andi is better at those compliments than I am.”

“Speaking of, what’s the deal with her?”

“Andi? Are you thinking of like, dating her?”

“No! No, I’m not interested in her like that at all, at all, trust me dude,” he said. “I just...I’m trying to read her vibe, and it’s all over the place sometimes, and I might be trying to be a good brother…”

“Understood,” Jonah said with a nod. “Well, Andi’s life is all over the place. She was born and raised in Shadyside by this really strict woman who hated the idea of sugary cereals and had a really cool older sister. Except on her 13th birthday...we kinda found out the truth…”

“What truth?”

“Her sister is actually her mom...and the woman she thought was her mother…”

“Was her grandmother?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s totally wild,” T.J. said. 

“Yeah, and then she meets her dad...they go through a rough patch, they end up getting married, and Andi got into an art school, and then...we went on the ship. And here we are.”

“Damn...at least you guys are here together and you work well together.”

Jonah laughed. “It wasn’t always like that,” he said. “There were fights, misunderstandings,” Jonah said. “Me figuring out that I don’t really do well in relationships...the hard way...with Andi…”

“Were you a jerk boyfriend? Would not have expected that form a guy like you, man.”

“Well, I never meant to be a jerk boyfriend,” he said. “I just...I dunno. I like the fun stuff of a relationship, like the handholding and the cuddling and kissing...but…the instant real romantic feelings got in there? I just…”

“What, you want a friend you can kiss and cuddle?”

“Actually...yeah,” he said. “That would be perfect. But most people don’t tend to go for that.”

“Well...I’m sure there are some other aro people in this world,” he joked. “You should go help Andi with the fish we caught. I’m gonna do something with Marty.” 

Jonah nodded and they did a bro combination handshake and fist bump before he went back down. T.J. knocked on the door and came in when Marty gave the all-clear.

“So…” 

“So…” Marty said, wearing his binder and shirt again. “I think they should know.”

“You do?”

“I mean…” he sighed. “You and Amber were out openly, and these guys seem cool, and it’s better they know now…”

“Mar, you don’t have to do it if you’re not 100% sure,” T.J. said. 

“I’m sure...better that way so I can...prepare, if you feel me?”

“Yeah, I can feel that.” 

“Also...it’s weird, but…” he hesitated. “I kinda want you to like...causally out me? Like, if you mention it offhand like it’s no big deal, then it won’t be and we can move past it?”

“Wow...that’s...you’re okay with me outing you?”

“Well, it’s not super...outing, if that makes sense...it’s more like when back at our old school, when kids asked offhand, we’d be like, ‘Oh, him, yeah he’s gay by the way…’ if it makes sense…”

“I think I get it,” he said. 

“Don’t force it...but...I don’t want to say it. I feel like I’ll make a bigger deal out of it and I don’t think I want to have it be a big deal.”

“You got it, I’ve got your back.”

* * *

“Kippen,” Buffy said coldly, aggressively plucking the bird. 

“Driscoll, hope you had a lovely morning,” he said, grabbing a fruit. 

“Nice glasses.” 

“Thanks,” he said. “I have no more contacts.”

She rolled her eyes. “Know how to gut these?”

“I can figure it out,” he said, finishing his snack before sitting down and grabbing his personal pocket knife and working. 

“So...you’re getting close,” she said. 

“Yeah...and…” he sighed. “Amber kinda kicked my ass last night, and she’s right. I should apologize to you, and to other people in general. That whole being a dickwad thing...especially the sexist part...it was kind of necessary back where I lived before Shadyside. It’s a long complicated story, but...it was a whole thing.”

Buffy listened. “You didn’t actually apologize…”

“Sorry for not apologizing.”

“You still didn’t.”

He snorted and nodded. “Sorry.”

She narrowed her eyes but thought better and decided to be enough for now. “Fine...but I’ll tell you now,” she said, and held her own knife out threateningly. “That was your pass. Anything sexist, racist, or homophobic out of your mouth, and I’m using you as shark bait.”

T.J. nodded, laughing a little at the last thing he heard. 

“What’s so funny?”

“Nothing.”

“Spill. Shark bait in effect.” 

T.J. shook his head and finished with the last bird. “The las thing you said. Homophobic…”

“What about it? Because homophobia will not be-“

“Buffy,” he interrupted with a chuckle, placing the finished bird in the banana leaf she set apart for this reason, starting to leave. “There’s no such thing as a cishet Kippen sibling.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, I hope you enjoy this weird little story and it’s chapters. If you have anything you’d like to see, either in this story, or just in general as a oneshot or my other stories, please let me know!!!*

“Are you absolutely sure he said that?” Cyrus asked, looking Buffy straight in the eye. “Like, one hundred and twelve percent.” 

“Two hundred and fifty percent,” she said back as they were settling in for the night. Cyrus was sleeping over in her room tonight while the Kippens stayed in his. “He said that there are no cishet Kippen siblings. They’re all queer...can I say that?”

“Yes,” he said, and got under their woven blanket. She threw her leg over his and they snuggled up close to each other. “So...he might be gay?”

“Cy, don’t tell me you’re interested in him,” she said with a laugh. He was quiet and staring at the wall on the other side. “Oh my god. You like him!” 

“.....maybe a little.”

“Cyrus!”

“He’s really attractive Buffy! I can’t help it!” He said. “Plus, he could be queer as in asexual, but still heteroromantic? Or he could be queer like Jonah’s aromantic and heterosexual with some bicuriosity.”

“How do you know about his bicuriousity?” Buffy asked. 

“I’m the token gay of the island, and the only openly out guy at Grant...at least back then. You don’t think people come to me for advice?”

“We weren’t exactly popular…”

“You weren’t. However, every time I was alone in the drama room, somebody came in and asked me twenty million questions about ‘how did I know?’ I never really went into the details of liking Mr. Jonah Beck, because that would have been awkward for all parties involved.

“Yeah that’s fair,” Buffy said. “So...clearly your type is Jocks with green eyes…”

“Buffy!”

“It’s true,” she said. “And I can’t exactly say I’m thrilled…”

“Buffy…” he groaned and flopped over. 

“But our dating pool is smaller than usual, so as long as he reforms his jerk ways…”

“Didn’t he apologize to you?”

“He...kind of apologized.” Buffy was quiet at that, so Cyrus knew he was getting somewhere. “Look we don’t know what his life was before this island, and whether that should matter or not is another story. But maybe we can take this kind of apology as him actually trying? If he was a bad person before coming here, he might have had his own reasons. Whether we should judge those reasons or not is not what we’re talking about right now. Fact is, we need each other.”

“Do we?” Buffy asked. “We were doing just fine before him.”

“Buff, we could go days without food sometimes, especially if one of us got hurt. It’s like, we’re too codependent on each other. And like-“

“We know each other too well?” Buffy said. “That’s an advantage!”

“Buffy, you literally finished my sentence,” he said. “We think too alike. Maybe having an outsider come in and interact, get close to us...the closest thing we have to an outsider is Jonah because we met him in the 6th grade rather than the 2nd.”

“Yeah...maybe you’re right,” she said. “Having someone with different opinions could work…”

“And while I’m sure the Girl Scouts were absolute badasses and can kick anyone’s ass without effort on a bad day,” he said. “Maybe the Boy Scouts learned a different technique on something that could work in certain situations…”

“You’re talking about making pineapple vinegar, aren’t you?”

Cyrus winced. “Supposedly it smells better, and since that’s pretty much how we have to wash our hair and ...everything…”

“I get it,” she sighed. “No matter how many lemons we squeeze, mine smells like shit.”

“I’m grateful for its existence,” he said. “But if I can avoid smelling like a pickle…”

“Cyrus!”

“Look, you have minimal experience with gefilte fish. I’m about two more baths away from becoming one…”

Buffy laughed and gave him a little shove. “Somehow you’re still the nicest smelling of all of us anyways. But...I’ll ask T.J. if he learned how to make other types of vinegar that we can use to clean everything with.”

“And Amber also told me Marty knows how to make ceviche…”

“We don’t have cilantro.”

“Good, it tastes like soap to me anyways,” Cyrus said. “All we need is the lemons, which we have...and the fish, which we also have...and it’ll preserve better.”

“I already agreed,” she said. “Don’t make me change my mind. Now, goodnight Cyrus.”

* * *

“Hey, Buffy, right?” Marty said, going over to her. 

“Are you dumb or trying to be smooth?” She asked, looking up at him while she made some knots. 

“Clearly failing at the second thing,” he said, sitting across from her. “Need help?” She shrugged and he took that as a cue to sit down and follow her knotting techniques. “So...are these for me and my siblings if we cross you, slayer?” 

Buffy had to do a little laugh. “Only if the fish disappear. Need to make sure my team eats.”

“Dark humor,” he said, clearly impressed. “We aren’t on your team yet?” 

“I’ve been known to be a solo player, takes a lot to get on my team.”

He smiled. “I’ll get there, with your permission.”

“You have permission to try,” she said, then she thought a little while pausing. “Hey...so...if you don’t want to talk about it, it’s totally fine, and you can just ask me not to talk about it at all, and I’ll stop, but…”

“T.J. told you?” Marty asked. “About all of his siblings being queer?” 

“He included himself, to be fair,” she said. 

“Yeah, I know,” he said. “He only told you because he knows how well you treat the queer guys here.”

“Wait...how did-“

“Oh his gaydar is ridiculously fine tuned,” he said. “Like...ridiculously fine tuned. He can look at people and no matter how they’re presenting and their relationship is presenting, and know exactly how they identify. He figured out the guitar teacher at the Red Rooster and the stylist at Cloud 10, even though they’re married to each other, that she’s bi and he’s pan.” 

Buffy stopped what she was doing and looked down. “Those...those are Andi’s parents…”

“Oh….oh,” he said.

“How are they? Bex and Bowie?” She asked softly. 

“They seem to be doing okay, though, now the way they look sad sometimes makes sense now.”

“Man...it’s weird...I mean...I know our families moved on and all, they kinda had to since it’s been a year...but…”

They were quiet, Marty hating himself for bringing up those feelings. “I’m...trans, by the way. I’m straight and trans...meaning…”

“You like girls,” she said. 

“Yeah…a lot of people get confused over that stuff, you know, trans and straight…”

“You don’t have to explain yourself,” she said. “When Cyrus came out to us, we all did a ton of research...which helped Andi realize things about herself, and Jonah finally got one of the labels he desperately craved,” she said. 

Marty smiled. “So...it’s not weird for you?”

“Why would it be?” She said. “You’re just being who you truly are. Though...I don’t want to pry too much into your transition because it’s none of my business, but depending on how you experience that time of the month…”

Marty groaned. “I forgot about that, to be honest. I’ve been on T for a while and now that, for obvious reasons, I’m stopping at least for now. I have no idea what to expect.”

“Well, if you need help with anything relating to that,” Buffy said. “Andi and I figured out some tricks and stuff. And Cyrus donated his bat mitzvah sweatshirt to be pretty much destroyed.”

“Thanks, it’ll probably be super helpful having people who figured it out.”

“Yeah, you won’t have to deal with the trial and error we went through,” she said. “It was awful and Jonah stepping up was...well he tried his hardest.”

Marty laughed. “Well, he seems pretty chill, right?”

“He had fun with you and T.J. You’ll have nothing but time to hang out with him, with all of us.”

“Yeah,” he said. “Getting to know all of you sounds like one pretty great thing to come out of this situation,” he said, smiling at her. 

Buffy failed at biting back a smile. “Watch it Casanova.”

* * *

“You avoiding us?” T.J. looked up to see Cyrus walking over to him. “We can’t be that bad.”

“You’re not,” he said, scooting over on the fallen tree he was sitting on and offering Cyrus a place to sit. “I’m the one that’s kinda hated around here.”

“Buffy’s just intense,” he said, sitting next to him. “She feels everything fiercely, and hates being underestimated because she’s a girl or any reason, really. And you were a little mean to her.”

“Force of habit, I guess,” he said. “Not that it’s a good excuse.”

“Well, good excuse or bad, feels like there’s a story behind it, if you’re willing to share. You don’t have to though.”

T.J. shrugged. “We moved to Shadyside in the beginning of the school year. But before that, we were in New York.”

“That must have been cool.”

“New York state…closer up to Syracuse and Albany,” he said. “Put simply, small town, smaller minds. And I came out pretty young, but never in this whole...public thing. Like, I didn’t do this big ‘coming out’ and told everyone with flags and playing Lady Gaga. I just...decided I wasn’t going to hide anymore. Like, hey, I’m gay by the way.”

“Right, I did make a whole big deal out of it...I started the Grant High GSA.”

“Oh man, that was you?” T.J. smiled. “They’re mostly straight with tons of closeted kids in it, but it’s a great step.” He said and Cyrus blushed a little.

“So...should I guess how the coming out thing affected the whole ‘you-being-mean’ thing?”

“You’d probably be about...half right,” he said. “It was mostly a mixed reaction. I had support on some ends, the expected homophobia on other ends, but the worst were girls at school,” he said. “See...I can find any hint of gay in a person just looking at them, but...I can’t detect flirting to save my life.” Cyrus laughed a little at that. “No, I’m serious. I thought all the girls were being nice, but then they’d either use me being nice to them as me flirting back, so I said I was gay ‘for the attention,’ some girls used tried to make me their GBF, and as you can guess…not really the type of guy I am,” he gestured to himself and Cyrus nodded. “But then there were those who saw me being nice as this poor little straight boy trying to break free but corrupted by sin...so they would drag me to church to try and ‘pray the gay away.’”

“Oh that’s awful!” He said outraged. “Praying doesn’t make gayness go away, and you can take my word on it since I came from a pretty religious family.”

T.J. raised an eyebrow. “I’m guessing you guys aren’t Baptist?”

“Far from it,” he said. “Jewish.”

T.J. nodded. “Yeah...the Baptist churches up there were pretty brutal. The preachers wouldn’t pray the gay out of you, they would try to scream it out.” Cyrus laughed and T.J. had to stop himself from melting a little. “Well, since me being nice to them was seen as flirting since they were flirting with me, about halfway through eighth grade, I figured, if I’m mean to them, then they won’t think I’m flirting. Somehow it was only an 80% success rate there. Some girls still believe that if a boy is mean to you, it means they like you? I don’t know,” he shrugged. “But being an asshole meant less trouble overall, So I kept that throughout my high school back in New York, then when I moved to Grant, it stayed that way. Better be a jerk and left alone than constantly disappoint people.”

“That’s not a great way to go about life,” Cyrus said. “But I understand the background.”

“It’s not ideal, and I want to change. I don’t think being the biggest jerk of the island of seven people will be a good fit for me.”

“Well, maybe you just need someone to talk to,” Cyrus said. “And considering I’m the child of four mental health professionals, I tend to be pretty good at this sort of thing.”

“Four?”

“Child of divorce,” he said. “And remarriages. Though the divorce was amicable. My mom and dad are just better friends than they are a couple.” T.J. nodded in understanding. 

“Maybe I just need a friend who isn’t related to me?”

“Well, you’ve got four of us now,” he said. “Buffy’ll come around eventually, but first, I have the most important question anyone could ask you.”

T.J. laughed a little, seeing Cyrus’s bright eyes and ‘serious’ pout. “What is it, underdog?”

“Underdog?”

“Means someone who you would expect to be the strongest player. Buffy can take up a room with her presence, but yours is more...meaningful, I guess.”

Cyrus smiled, loving the new nickname. “My very important question is...as a Boy Scout...do you know how to make pineapple vinegar?”


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Them being gay disasters.   
Also, people, please! Please! Please! Send this out! Send them to people! Have them read it! Indulge in my silliness! I beg! Law school* (see below) is hard enough I need people to just be freaking silly with me!!! I’ll write better content if you comment on what you want to see! Options include and are not limited to: one shots you haven’t see, one shots you have seen but want my take on, chapters of my fics that you’re desperately waiting on, new chartered fic ideas, FUCKING ANYTHING!!!! I BEG YOU! 
> 
> Ten points to whoever reads this and wishes me luck/prays for my survival for my Contracts Midterm.

“T.J.! Focus!” T.J. snapped out of his haze and looked over at his sister, who was mending some of his clothes. “You’re staring again.”

Outside the window, Cyrus joking around with Jonah, sitting on the ledge of the treehouse with their legs dangling off the edge. “I’m not…” T.J. mumbled, moving away from the window. “I thought I heard something.”

“Cyrus, you heard Cyrus,” she said, tossing his extra pair of jeans to try on since she died it. “You like him.”

“He’s nice,” T.J. said. “Listens to people…”

“He’s also cute and gay.”

“Irrelevant.”

“Because of the ‘no-dating’ rule?” She asked. 

“In general,” he said. “Just because we’re both gay and alone doesn’t mean we’re supposed to be together.”

“Everything is just too coincidental,” she said. “We’re from the same high school, stranded on the same island, with people with the same sexualities?”

“Are you suggesting fate?”

Before she could answer, Marty walked in with a goofy smile on his face, flopping on the bed and declaring that the island is magical. 

“Oh no,” T.J. groaned. Please don’t-“

“I’m in love.”

“Great,” our brother is an idiot Amber.”

“Buffy is just...perfect,” he said with a sigh, and T.J. rolled his eyes. “She’s strong, sweet...has just that bit of edge that makes her fun…” 

“We’re screwed,” Amber said. “We’re screwed because you’re both idiots with crushes.”

“Don’t rope me into this,” T.J. snapped. 

“You were staring at Cyrus for fifteen minutes?”

“Oh, should we be quiet about the staring contest you had with Andi at breakfast?”

Amber was quiet. “The island is getting to us. Andi was telling me about all the animals here...and there’s this panther-like creature, it broke Jonah’s leg once and only that because Buffy managed to fight it off,” she said. “We can’t get distracted.”

“Because of a panther?” Marty asked. 

“A panther-like creates,” she said. “Carnivorous, and we’re meat.” 

“No dating so we don’t die?” T.J. asked. 

“No distractions, at all,” she said. “Dating included. We’re surviving,” she said. “We can date when we get off the island.”

“If we get off the island,” Marty mumbled. 

“Mar...you can’t be that way.”

“Amber, they’ve been here for a year, a whole year! What makes you think that there’s even the slightest chance that we could be able to get off if they haven’t?”

“What? Are you expecting to live our lives here? The seven of us living and dying and leaving this island without anyone even able to pass down our story?”

“What do you mean without leaving anyone?” Marty said. 

“Oh I’m sorry, what exactly do you think the procreation rate is for a gay guy, a straight trans guy, and a lesbian? And Andi and Jonah clearly aren’t going to do anything, and Buffy made it clear that she and Jonah wouldn’t either!” 

They were quiet. T.J. never really said it out loud, but he was excited at the idea of growing up and having a family. They wouldn’t really be able to have that if he stayed on the island. “What else are we supposed to do?”

“Try,” she said. “Rock messages, signal fires, whatever the hell it takes. And we survive until then.” 

They looked at each other and T.J. sighed. “I’ll try and do rock messages on the beach again. Maybe year number two for them is the lucky year of a plane or helicopter seeing the message?”

* * *

“You know, we tried the rock messages thing for a while before you guys showed up,” Buffy said, approaching T.J. He grunted, moving another rock from the forest to the beach.

“I’m aware,” he said. “You told us, but Amber wants to get out of here before we’re 25.” He placed the next rock down. “Unless you guys are okay with living out the rest of your lives here?”

“We don’t want to,” she said. “But we’re prepared for it.”

“Not good enough,” he said. “We had dreams before coming here. We wanted to go to college, have careers, start families…”

“And my life’s aspiration was to be on an island surviving day to day?” Buffy said, crossing her arms. 

“You guys gave up.”

“We got tired,” she corrected. “Tired of the false hope and constantly staring at the skies and making hundreds of fires on beaches. Feel free to keep going.”

“Would be nice if I got some help,” he said softly. She sighed and ended up relenting, helping him put the black rocks in formation. “Why did you come down here? To judge me for trying to get us saved?”

“I came for your help, believe it or not.”

“I don’t...but continue.”

She sighed, trying not to kill him in her mind. “Cyrus and I were talking...and...he made me realize that maybe a Boy Scout is more than just a backup Girl Scout…”

T.J. stopped and raised an eyebrow. “Oh really? I’m listening.”

Buffy looked at the forest and debated running into it or pushing T.J. into the ocean. “We’re surviving...but maybe we could be closer to thriving...is it true that pinapple vinegar smells less awful than regular?”

“You want me to make pineapple vinegar?”

“Cyrus said he wants to stop smelling like gefilte fish when he washes his hair and clothes. I owe him that.”

T.J. nodded. “It takes a while for it to ferment, but yeah, I know how to make it. Tell him I’ll do it  _ if  _ we step up efforts to be rescued,  _ and  _ if you stop undermining my experience.”

She rolled her eyes. “I don’t have to like you though.”

“Just tolerate me, Driscoll.”

* * *

“Hey Amber, Andi sent me up here with some more scraps...to turn into stuff?” Amber looked up and saw Cyrus at the doorway. 

“You can come in, you know,” she laughed lightly. “I don’t bite.”

“Sorry,” he said. “Of your siblings...you’re the hardest to read.” He dropped the clothing scraps and Amber examined them, thinking of what she could do with them. 

“I’m an open book, if you ask all the right questions.”

“Like...do you know what T.J. stands for?”

“That I’m not at liberty to say, exactly,” she said. “He’s very private about his name. All Kippens are sworn to secrecy and only he decides who else to bring in.”

“Clearly I still need to break him down,” he joked. “Is the whole ‘him being mean’ thing really about straight girls using him?”

“For someone who wants to know about me, you sure are asking a lot of questions about my brother.”

“You learn a lot about a person by the way they talk about their families.”

“Do you want me to pretend I don’t know what you’re really fishing for?

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Denial, got it,” she said and Cyrus said nothing. “Well, actually, for the longest time, I was the mean sibling.”

“Really?!”

“Yeah, I was a real bitch. I had the most popular guy as my boyfriend, my hair and clothes were perfect even if they weren’t name brand, I was a poorer version of Regina George.”

“Scary image…”

“T.J. was a nice guy until some people started pushing him. I mean, he wasn’t the guy who would go out of his way to help people...but he would be nice...he closed himself off the third time a girl dragged him to a Baptist church.”

“I now have a fear of Baptists,” Cyrus joked lightly. 

“But he really became mean when our dad died.”

“Oh...oh god...I’m so sorry!”

“It’s fine, really,” she said. ‘But T.J., it's like he lost patience being even somewhat nice. He was angry all the time, especially since he was out at school...but closeted at home. He was never honest with our dad.”

“Oh..I never came out to all four of my parents either,” Cyrus said. “But they think I’m dead here.” 

“I guess we have our grandparents but they can be a little...traditional,” she said. “He tried to come out to them, and they still ask when he’s going to get a girlfriend. I just shut up, never said a word about myself…When dad died, they kept saying he was the man of the house…he’d have to take care of us...but I’m the big sister,” she looked down and sniffed. “Sorry…”

“No, don’t be sorry,” Cyrus said, sitting closer to her. “You’re allowed to feel these things, that’s totally normal.”

“I just...didn’t mean to unload on you.”

“I’m the unloading zone guy,” he said. “People tell me what they’ve been feeling so that I can try to help...I’m used to it, and I kinda enjoy it. Makes me feel wanted, in a way.” 

Amber smiled. “I mean...when Pop-pop said that T.J. was the man of the house, he became angry all the time, for real. He hated everything and everyone, never let himself really have any friends, and I ended up ending my Regina George reign and being the big sister he didn’t know he needed,” she said. “Then we adopted Marty a couple of years back...that he can share the story if he wants...and we all lived somewhat happily with our mom. And that’s our life story. Ta da.”

Cyrus turned his lips up a little at the little joke at the end of her speech. “I’m sorry all of that happened. But, you guys can have real friends with us. We all have pretty weird and wild stories.”

“Like Andi’s parents? T.J. told me about that one?” 

“Yeah, that’s one of them,” he said. “It’ll be nice getting to know you guys. At least we’ll have new stories when we eat dinner. Three of us have been friends since the second grade, Jonah joined in during the 7th grade. We know everything about each other, even things we probably shouldn’t.”

“Glad to be a source of entertainment,” she said with a little smile. “Now what do you need more?” She gestured to the scraps of cloth at her feet. “A pillow or a blanket?”

**Author's Note:**

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